Fire Captain

No one else except Bai Ziyang can be so cocky in such a cold weather.

Sheng Minglan has often thought of Bai Ziyang in recent years. It is indeed difficult for her not to remember the person who left such a deep impression on her. Now, when she saw Bai Ziyang, she smiled unconsciously and pointed at him in surprise and said, "You...?"

Bai Ziyang shrugged at Sheng Minglan and said with a smile: "What? I haven't seen you for a few years, don't you recognize me?"

When she saw Bai Ziyang's familiar smile, Sheng Minglan suddenly remembered the last time she saw him. It felt like it was yesterday. She immediately felt as if there was a tooth mark on her face. She immediately raised her hand to cover her hot cheek. The surprised expression on her face turned into anger. She pointed at Bai Ziyang and said, "You... why are you here?" As she said that, she couldn't help but take two steps back timidly and pulled Yu Yanran beside her.

Bai Ziyang looked at his own position in an exaggerated manner, then looked at Minglan's retreating position, as if he couldn't understand why Minglan was avoiding him like the plague.

Minglan looked at Bai Ziyang's deliberate act of pretending to be stupid, and angrily took Yu Yanran's arm and said, "Sister Yanran, someone is blocking the way here, let's go over there!"

Yu Yanran looked at Bai Ziyang and then looked at Minglan carefully, and found that it was still the sister she knew. She was just curious, who is this person? She has known Minglan for so many years, and Sheng Minglan always speaks softly and often wears a shy smile when meeting outsiders. Even when facing her two sisters, she does not easily reveal her thoughts. Although it is not to say that she wears a mask, but apart from Mrs. Sheng, there are few people who can let her emotions show. It was only after she had known Minglan for a long time that she slowly understood her.

She had never seen the real Sheng Minglan in front of her who dared to love and hate, and had a clear distinction between love and hate!

Bai Ziyang looked at Sheng Minglan who was "fleeing in panic", smiled helplessly, shook his head and said: "Silly girl!"

"Huh? What?" Sheng Changbai came out of the hall and saw Bai Ziyang grinning foolishly. He looked around and saw that there was no one around, and couldn't help feeling a little strange.

Bai Ziyang said: "No, nothing... How is it, can we go now?"

Sheng Changbai said: "It's OK. Originally I shouldn't have been able to get out, but luckily I got there first and left Changfeng inside, so I was able to get out."

"Ah..." Bai Ziyang nodded at Sheng Changbai and said with a smile: "After following me for so long, you finally got smarter!"

When the two were drinking in Fanlou, Bai Ziyang was a little vague about his experiences in the past few years. He did not clearly say that the famous Zhao Ziyang in the court was him. Anyway, Sheng Changbai was full of bookishness and was easy to fool. As they chatted, the topic turned to Gu Tingye. Gu Tingye had stayed in Bailudong Academy for the past few years. It was said that his academic performance was good and he would return to Beijing after the New Year to prepare for the next year's imperial examination.

"When the time comes, you two brothers will take the exam together and pass the exam together. That will be a good story, right?" Bai Ziyang said jokingly.

Sheng Changbai was surprised when he heard this: "What do you mean we are brothers? You are not my brother?"

Bai Ziyang said: "I am your brother, but the key is that I don't plan to leave, right?"

As the saying goes: Learn the arts of literature and martial arts, and sell them to the emperor. Although this saying is vulgar, it is true. Ten years of hard study without anyone paying attention to it, and becoming famous overnight is the dream of every scholar. Now Bai Ziyang actually said that he had no plan to take the imperial examination? How could Sheng Changbai not be surprised.

Bai Ziyang looked at Sheng Changbai's expression and comforted him with a smile, "Don't be so surprised. It's okay not to take the imperial examination. I still have other ways to go..." After much persuasion, Sheng Changbai finally accepted it. After wiping the non-existent cold sweat from his forehead, Bai Ziyang felt drunk. Who would have thought that because of his own affairs, he would have to comfort others...

This time the emperor asked Bai Ziyang to return to the capital just to let him come back to accompany Princess Zhao. His troops were also transferred to rest. When Bai Ziyang entered the palace to pay his respects to the emperor, the emperor told him clearly to stay in the capital to accompany his family and not to always think about running outside like before. He also told him that he had reached the age of coming of age and it was time to look for a marriage. If Bai Ziyang continued to be lazy, he would have to personally issue an order to arrange a marriage for him!

Bai Ziyang was so frightened that he begged for mercy and even said that he already had a candidate. When the emperor was about to ask him who the candidate was, Bai Ziyang ran away.

The emperor laughed and scolded from behind, "This stinky boy! Next time I must know who his crush is!"

After leaving the palace, Bai Ziyang thought that Sheng Changfeng had invited him to play polo, so he turned around and walked towards Sheng's house. He was already very familiar with the servants of Sheng's house, and they invited him in directly when they saw him. After learning from the servants that Sheng Changfeng and his friends had not finished their classes yet, Bai Ziyang decided to go to the academy to take a look. After all, he had taken classes there for two years, so they were all acquaintances.

"Hey, Brother Bai!" Sheng Changfeng saw Bai Ziyang as soon as he went out, and immediately jumped up and down to greet him.

Seeing this, Bai Ziyang asked, "What's wrong? Is the get out of class over?"

Sheng Molan and Sheng Rulan came out one after another, and when they saw Bai Ziyang, they said:

"Mr. Bai!"

"Mr. Bai!"

Bai Ziyang bowed slightly and said, "Fourth Miss! Fifth Miss!"

When Sheng Molan and Sheng Rulan came out of the academy, they greeted Bai Ziyang politely and left quickly. When they were studying together, Sheng Molan looked down on Bai Ziyang's identity as a "son of a merchant", and Sheng Rulan could still talk to Bai Ziyang at that time, but because Sheng Molan saw that she talked too much with Bai Ziyang, she always mocked her, implying that she was self-degrading. After all, they were also from a scholarly family, and there was no point in them associating with someone like Bai Ziyang.

Sheng Rulan was told so much by Sheng Molan that she distanced herself from Bai Ziyang. However, because Bai Ziyang seemed to get along well with Minglan, and because both of them looked down on Minglan, Sheng Rulan naturally felt that they were not the same kind of people. She even felt that they were being so polite to Bai Ziyang, which was a great favor to him.

After Bai Ziyang greeted Sheng Changfeng, he asked, "Huh? Why don't I see your sixth sister? And Young Master Qi?"

Sheng Changfeng didn't think much of it and said casually, "Oh, Sixth Sister was left behind by Zhuang Xuejiu, Young Master?... Young Master might be a little slow... Let's go, let's go first, or we'll be late!"

Bai Ziyang said: "Oh, okay, go change your clothes first, I'll wait for you at the gate!"

Sheng Changfeng said: "That's fine, I'll go right away, very quickly, wait for me!"

After Sheng Changfeng ran away, Bai Ziyang saw Sheng Minglan and Xiaotao walking out slowly.

Bai Ziyang followed behind with Tingfeng secretly.

I only heard Xiao Tao saying as she walked: "Miss, you've been punished to copy books again? Why don't you find someone to help you write, Fourth Miss?"

Sheng Minglan said, "Why would Fourth Sister help me write? Her handwriting is so good, Zhuang Xueji will know it at a glance!"

Xiao Tao said, "That's right! What about the fifth lady? She even asked the lady to embroider a purse for her. If the lady wants to punish her with calligraphy, she won't have time to embroider a purse for her! Why not ask her to help the lady write?"

Sheng Minglan was slightly angry after hearing this and said with vigorous steps: "She didn't ask me to embroider a purse, she ordered me to embroider a purse! The difference is huge! As for my two sisters, I dare not ask them to do anything. As long as they don't harm me, they are already very good to me."

Seeing that Bai Ziyang was almost following him into the courtyard, Ting Feng had no choice but to speak up, "Master, if we don't leave now, Master Sheng III won't be able to find us!"

Bai Ziyang looked up at the time and said, "Yes, let's retreat!"

The two were about to leave. When Bai Ziyang turned around, he suddenly saw Qi Heng and Buwei walking towards Minglan from the side. Bai Ziyang stopped and called Tingfeng and said, "Hey, hey, hey! Something's happening! Something's happening!"

Minglan probably didn't expect Young Master Qi to suddenly appear. She took several steps back after being called to stop Qi Heng and then said, "Hello, Young Master!"

Qi Heng looked at Minglan and said, "Your two sisters both call me Brother Yuanruo, why are you so polite?"

Minglan didn't know what to say about Qi Heng's teasing.

Qi Heng saw Minglan's embarrassment and quickly changed the subject: "Sixth sister, although it's cold these days, Madam Wu of the Earl of Yongchang's mansion has opened a warm-up polo field outside Xinzheng Gate. It's surrounded by curtains and felts for horses to run and hit the ball. The goal is also lowered by half. It's very interesting. Has the mansion been there?"

Minglan lowered her eyes and looked to the side, smiling, "I haven't been there!"

Qi Heng said, "Okay, next time I'll ask for an invitation from Liu Lang. By the way, Madam Wu also made some beautiful jewelry. Sixth sister will definitely like it when she sees it."

Minglan said awkwardly, "None of my sisters know how to play polo, so you don't have to worry about it, young master."

Qi Heng said hurriedly: "Don't worry, don't worry. It only takes a cup of tea to get to the Earl's Mansion."

Bai Ziyang was looking at Qi Heng and Sheng Minglan standing opposite each other from behind. They looked like a perfect couple. The atmosphere between them, although one of them was awkward, the other was full of affection. Now there was an inexplicable harmony between the two of them.

Bai Ziyang puffed up his cheeks and secretly gathered his luck. Later, he saw Qi Heng stuff two bags of things to Minglan, and then punched the rockery next to him. Tingfeng saw a piece of broken stone from the rockery was smashed into powder by Bai Ziyang, and he couldn't help but be a little shocked.

Seeing Minglan frantically trying to put away the things Young Master Qi had given her after Qi Heng left, Bai Ziyang pretended to walk over slowly and said, "Hey? What good stuff?"

After saying this, while Minglan wasn't paying attention, he took the round box underneath and opened it to see that it was a box of water chestnuts. He smiled and said, "You're hiding some good stuff?"

Minglan looked around to see that there was no one around, then she glared at Bai Ziyang and said angrily, "Give it back to me now!"

Bai Ziyang said, "You don't know how to share good things. Have you forgotten how many good things I brought you when we were in class together? You can't be so heartless!"

Minglan said anxiously, "What nonsense are you talking about!" Seeing that Bai Ziyang was determined not to change, Minglan didn't intend to argue with him about this issue. She didn't plan to eat the box of water chestnuts anyway, so she changed the subject and said, "Why are you here again? Why do I keep seeing you!"

Bai Ziyang raised his eyebrows and glared and said, "Do you think I am willing to come? It's your third brother who asked me to play polo! Oh, I almost forgot that your third brother is still waiting for me!" After saying that, he took the opportunity to slip away.

Of the two things Young Master Qi gave, one was a water chestnut which was taken away by Bai Ziyang, and the other was two fine brushes. Unfortunately, Minglan didn't keep them in the end. Rulan found out about the gift of brushes by Young Master Qi, and she had a fight with Molan at the city gate. Minglan was the one who suffered. The two fine brushes were given to the two sisters as an apology, one each...